Believe it or not, Los Angeles use to have a Little Italy (San Francisco: house, neighborhood)

[lakersguy31]

My grandpa was born and raised in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles. Lincoln and Boyle Heights use to be all Italian, until the Chinese pushed them out, then Mexicans pushed out Chinese. But unitil about the 1950's, that area of LA was the "Little Italy". My grandpa and uncles show me pictures all the time when they were younger. Pretty nest stuff because all the Little Italys are on the East Coast,St. Louis, etc..

[Fontucky]

I was taught that Boyle Heights started out as a well-to-do Jewish enclave.

[A.J._in_L.A.]

There might be another designated Little Italy this year.

Big Night for 'Little Italy' :: blogdowntown

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — At the Los Angeles Historic Italian Hall Foundation's First Annual "Taste Of Italy" on Saturday night, Councilman Tom LaBonge won over the Pico House crowd with a prototype district sign that read "Little Italy." It was presented in between opera sets and servings of wine, pastas and pizza.
The borders of what would make up a Little Italy would certainly take debate. The Italian community in Los Angeles was originally centered in land that is today occupied by Chinatown.

Still, one of the signs could go by the Italian Hall, where the Foundation plans to build a museum on the second floor.
The space is slated for a 2010 opening, but dates to open a museum there have slipped before.
The effort to build a museum that tells the stories about Italian-American Angelenos has been ongoing since 1988, when L.A.'s Italian community began a support group, Friends of the Italian Hall. They in turn became the Historic Italian Hall Foundation in 1993.
Outside the Pico House, once owned by a Giuseppe Pagliano, tables were filled with people having coffees and desserts, finding shared bonds going back several generations.
"It's like going to a wedding and finding out you have a lot of relatives," one man is overheard as saying. "I didn't know we had such a big Los Angeles family."

[elisaa]

Originally Posted by lakersguy31

My grandpa was born and raised in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles. Lincoln and Boyle Heights use to be all Italian, until the Chinese pushed them out, then Mexicans pushed out Chinese. But unitil about the 1950's, that area of LA was the "Little Italy". My grandpa and uncles show me pictures all the time when they were younger. Pretty nest stuff because all the Little Italys are on the East Coast,St. Louis, etc..

The chinese don't usually push people out. Usually what happens is, the old timers make their money and move on to other places and get scattered that way. It just happens that there is some overlap before the old timers are completely gone. And then there are a few dedicated ones that remember the first days they came and stay in their areas no matter who comes in and manage to control it to this day.

[BRinSM]

here's a good article about the transition between jews to mexicans in boyle heights from The Times a few months ago.
One of a kind in Boyle Heights - latimes.com

[elisaa]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

here's a good article about the transition between jews to mexicans in boyle heights from The Times a few months ago.
One of a kind in Boyle Heights - latimes.com

This is a nice little article...Thanks for posting it!

[BennyPhoenix]

There was a little Italy on Bunker Hill, but it was destroyed in order to build office buildings.

[wburg]

Many west coast cities have or used to have a Little Italy--San Francisco's is pretty well known. Sacramento had one, a neighborhood called Southside, until the Italian Catholic church in the neighborhood moved to East Sacramento, and much of the Italian community moved with it. The area was also a Portuguese neighborhood, and while the Portuguese Catholic church is still there, the neighborhood is mostly dispersed to Land Park and the Pocket area, much of which was Portuguese farms before becoming suburbs.

Southside became the Asian neighborhood after Sacramento demolished its Chinatown and Japantown in the 1950s-60s. There is still a strong Asian presence, including Buddhist and Tenrikyo churches and a lot of businesses ad offices whose signs are primarily in Chinese.

[ShOo8eR]

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by lakersguy31

My grandpa was born and raised in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles. Lincoln and Boyle Heights use to be all Italian, until the Chinese pushed them out, then Mexicans pushed out Chinese. But unitil about the 1950's, that area of LA was the "Little Italy". My grandpa and uncles show me pictures all the time when they were younger. Pretty nest stuff because all the Little Italys are on the East Coast,St. Louis, etc..

Exactly, we used to have some good friends, the guy worked with my dad and they lived in Boyle Heights during the second world war. Shortly after the war they left Boyle Heights. Actually the hispanics moved in before the Chinese. yes, by the 50s most of the old Italian families had spread their wings.

Nita